It’s a rare sight — a fully-loaded container ship just lollygagging in Rupert’s inner harbour.
With Hanjin Shipping Co. filing for receivership last week, headaches have been caused in the noggins of everyone from longshoremen to stranded sailors to the company’s creditors to fretting cargo shippers, who now have to retrieve their goods and find a new way to get their stuff where they want it.
It’s not a pleasant situation for anyone, but a solution won’t be far away. Shippingwatch.com and probably hundreds of shipping pundits are looking to Maersk as the conglomerate that might buy Hanjin and snatch it up. Anyone bemoaning the loss of a shipping line here in Prince Rupert might want to pause before attempting to dodge the falling sky.
If indeed Maersk (part of the 2M Alliance that has used the Prince Rupert port since August 2015), or a similar shipping conglomerate purchases Hanjin, it’s unlikely calls to Prince Rupert would cease.
The world (including flashy American news channels) has taken notice of the port’s strategic advantages compared to the rest of the west coast and there seems to be no sight of a slowdown in the expanding Fairview Container Terminal.
